Outdoor reception

I have to shoot a wedding reception at a farm outside starting late afternoon and going through twilight into the dark. I'm undecided on what sort of diffuser/modifier I want to use on my flash (580exII). I have a stoffen, promax softbox, regular bounce, and the faux fongs including the whale tail. I have a stroboframe bracket but the off camera cord I had is DOA. There isnt anything in the way of a backdrop so side shadows are not a huge concern.

I am leaning toward the whale tail because it gives nice broad light and has some flexibility while remaining on camera. The softbox requires the bracket and cord but might be the most efficient in terms of directing light. Any suggestions?

I would use the bracket and the stofen..usually always has good results

Ive heard of some complaints about different situations with the gary fong stuff. I think it would be best to stick with what is reliable

(BTW, I have the shoot a reception just like how you described on Oct 11 =] )

Stofen is only for bouncing (hence the same - OmniBOUNCE), so doesn't apply here. The only other factor is the size of the light source, but with shoe mount flashes it makes little difference. I might use my Lumiquest soft box in that situation, promax with the solid insert would be ok.

I'd shoot very high ISO, F2.0, 1/50th, and use direct flash gelled as fill. If the light's really low the flash will be main. Definitely gel it if you can, otherwise you'll have seriously mixed color temps which doesn't look good.